"The serious student of the era and the even larger number of enthusiastic admirers of the historical literature for that complex and challenging age will be profoundly grateful for this compact, modern version of two Tudor classics."—Catholic Historical Review Around the year 1557, George Cavendish and William Roper fashioned masterful biographies of two figures who played major roles in the dramatic sequence of events that transformed the face of England. Each author knew his subject intimately; Cavendish served Wolsey as the Cardinal’s gentleman usher, and Roper was More’s son-in-law. Edited from the manuscripts for the Early English Text Society, the modernized versions of the two biographies presented here are based upon these authoritative editions.

A fully revised edition of one of the most successful volumes in the entire series of Cambridge Texts.

Bishop Richard Fox of Winchester (1448-1528) was an important early modern English prelate whose tireless service to his church, to his king and to humanist studies single him out as one of the great shapers of the Tudor age. This book explores the life and career of Bishop Fox as an architect of his world, not only literally, physically designing chapels and colleges, but also figuratively, building the careers of other important Tudor personalities such as Thomas Wolsey and John Fisher. Fox also laid the foundation for humanist learning in England by establishing Corpus Christi College at Oxford, and he negotiated the treaties and marriages that in time produced the Tudor and Stuart successions.

The relationship between church and state, indeed between religion and politics, has been one of the most significant themes in early modern English history. While scores of specialized studies have greatly advanced scholars' understanding of particular aspects of this period, there is no general overview that takes into account current scholarship. This volume discharges that task. Solt seeks to provide the main contours of church-state connections in England from 1509 to 1640 through a selective narration of events interspersed with interpretive summaries. Since World War II, social and economic explanations have dominated the interpretation of events in Tudor and early Stuart England. While these explanations continue to be influential, religious and political explanations have once again come to the fore. Drawing extensively from both primary and secondary sources, Solt provides a scholarly synthesis that combines the findings of earlier research with the more recent emphasis on the impact of religion on political events and vice versa.